Noisy Fan inside dashboard

jumbojake · February 25, 2017

Our 2015 Rx450h has started making (or we've just noticed) a noisy fan, somewhere in the dashboard, sounds like behind the radio.

We've turned off the fans, turned off the radio, and with the car stationary, engine off,we can clearly hear the fan running.... you can hear it when driving.

It isn't there when the card starts, and we cannot figure out what causes it to start. Is stops shortly after turning off the car.

Has anyone else observed the same? .... any ideas?

PCM · February 26, 2017

It's not just the radiator fan is it?

Sometimes they run after the ignition is off...

jumbojake · February 26, 2017

It's definitely inside the dashboard somewhere, sounds like it is just behind the radio unit.

We turned off the climate controls, turned off the radio and statuary at a junction, so engine not running

NemesisUK · February 26, 2017

Does the Lexus have a cooling fan for the Radio/Satnav electronics? That would remain on for a short while after switching off

jumbojake · February 26, 2017

We thought the same, so today went for a good drive, with the aircon/fan off and also the radio off the duration... only thing running was the satnav screen.

the noise started as we drove, so perhaps is it a cooling for the display unit.... next test is obvious ..... hopefully I can identify the source before my wife throws me out of the car!

ISJason · March 21, 2017

Hi, did you find out where the noise was coming from?

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

jumbojake · March 21, 2017

nothing confirmed ... it is definately behind the rado somewhere, stops about a minute after we shutoff the car. My current thought is a cooling fan for the display unit, but only a guess as I don't want to strup it down while it is under warranty.

I will be due in for a service soon, so we will raise it with them then

rayaans · March 21, 2017

44 minutes ago, jumbojake said:

nothing confirmed ... it is definately behind the rado somewhere, stops about a minute after we shutoff the car. My current thought is a cooling fan for the display unit, but only a guess as I don't want to strup it down while it is under warranty.

I will be due in for a service soon, so we will raise it with them then

Shouldnt really be making any sort of sound though if everything is off.

Mine certainly doesnt. Could simply be something has got in there and making a noise

NemesisUK · March 21, 2017

Sounds like a cooling fan for the ICE but as said one shouldn't be able to hear it normally. Perhaps the fan bearing is on the way out, fan blade loose ...

Perhaps a diagnosis wil show something, otherwise pull the ICE and see?

rynd2it · March 24, 2017

On 2/25/2017 at 4:47 PM, jumbojake said:

Our 2015 Rx450h has started making (or we've just noticed) a noisy fan, somewhere in the dashboard, sounds like behind the radio.

We've turned off the fans, turned off the radio, and with the car stationary, engine off,we can clearly hear the fan running.... you can hear it when driving.

It isn't there when the card starts, and we cannot figure out what causes it to start. Is stops shortly after turning off the car.

Has anyone else observed the same? .... any ideas?

It is just possible you have a leaf (or something) in there which is making the sound apparent. Fans do run after the car is switched off so the fact you have just started noticing it could be a clue. I had this happen on another vehicle some years ago.

FWIW

carld · March 31, 2017

Are you sure its not one of the servos under the dash, i have an issue with 1 on my rx300 which is driving me barmy.

Farqui · March 31, 2017

Good shout, those servos do move around short while after the ignition is turned off.

They wouldn't operate constantly when driving around though would they? Only when you adjust the heater temp/output direction.

PCM · April 1, 2017

18 hours ago, carld said:

Are you sure its not one of the servos under the dash, i have an issue with 1 on my rx300 which is driving me barmy.

Could be...

I had one, used to make a ticking sound, before Lexus replaced it.

Drove ME mad too!

jumbojake · May 15, 2017

update on this one.... was with the dealer today for a service, but they claimed they couldn't hear it. So I guess it either didn't happen (it is a little intermittent) or it has actually now failed! They didn't strip it to investigaste, so I guess we have to wait an see if it now overheats!

jumbojake · September 1, 2017

Finally a conclusion to this problem. After months of 'discussion' with the dealer, they accepted the car in to investigate, and after 5seconds, accepted there was a problem and confirmed my original diagnosis (cooling fan on back of CD player).

Car was taken in and we were given a loan car for the week while they repaired ours. It turns out they cannot replace the fan, but had to replace the entire multi-media center ... £2-3k worth of work for the sake of a fan worth a coupel of quid... thankfully all under warranty!

So, all good in the end, once they accepted the problem, the dealer treated us very well and fixed the issue without quibble... only a shame it took so long to get any serios attention.

(BTW, they gave us a NX F-sport .... compared to the RX it was very noisy, uncomfortable and underpowered .... was a joy to get back into the RX!)

PCM · September 1, 2017

50 minutes ago, jumbojake said:

Finally a conclusion to this problem. After months of 'discussion' with the dealer, they accepted the car in to investigate, and after 5seconds, accepted there was a problem and confirmed my original diagnosis (cooling fan on back of CD player).

Car was taken in and we were given a loan car for the week while they repaired ours. It turns out they cannot replace the fan, but had to replace the entire multi-media center ... £2-3k worth of work for the sake of a fan worth a coupel of quid... thankfully all under warranty!

So, all good in the end, once they accepted the problem, the dealer treated us very well and fixed the issue without quibble... only a shame it took so long to get any serios attention.

(BTW, they gave us a NX F-sport .... compared to the RX it was very noisy, uncomfortable and underpowered .... was a joy to get back into the RX!)

Happy days!

CAC1 · December 14, 2017

Sorry folks, but I'm in the states. My 2013 RX 350 just started making the very same noise. I'm trying to gather all info I can to present to Lexus. It's quite cold here and the noise can be heard with the ignition set to on and the engine not running. with the engine running and once everything has warmed up the noise goes away. On short runs you can hear it the whole way. definitely sounds like something that is rotating like a cooling fan or possibly a disk drive (if there is one) behind the Audio/nav system. there are threads on this very issue here in the states such as this one: .

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/gs-4th-gen-2013-present/844022-interior-fan-noise-help.html

jumbojake · December 14, 2017

I found the noise (once it appeared) was totally independant of anything we could control (fans, radio, sat nav etc... ).

It tooks us a few month to get Lexus to have as look, and when they did they identified it immedately as a worn fan on the 'multimedia' unit.... luckly it was covered under warranty, but they said it ammounted to ~£3k cost as they were only allowed to replace the entire unit.

However, if it was out of warranty, I'd be tempted to strip it down and replace the fauly fasn myself

Jarilyn · September 17

I have a 2011 GX460 and was having a sound similar to a running fan from the passenger side. Turns out, when detailing the interior, I 'd moved my seat control for cooling/ heating to the ON position. No one was sitting the seat when I noticed the noise. Once I switched the control back to OFF, the problem stopped! May be worth a try if anyone else has issues...Good luck

GMB · September 17

squirrel's nuts

GMB · September 17

I have decided to come clean and tell the truth. All these squirrels are actually innocent. The culprit was a Loir.. see picture. Beautiful creatures with disgusting habits. Hang on.... sounds a bit like northern blokes, but I digress. I did not want to confuse our naive Lexus owners with references to obscure creatures so I blamed squirrels. Sorry squirrels.

The picture here is a Loir with one of its nuts before it was stored in the heating system.